Guide and Love for the Blind
by kurokiya
Summary: Dave strider is starting at a new school and he's completely lost when a dorky savior comes in the form of John Egbert. The two hit off and start to date. But there are things in Dave's life that John doesn't know about. Will the two last? Or will Dave's guide and love leave him? Rating may change


Sighing, Dave walked the halls, his trusty guide dog cal with him. It was his first day at his new school and he wasn't looking forward to it. And due to his disability, he had gotten lost and was currently wandering around the school.

Somehow this always happened. John hastily glanced at his phone as he dashed through the front doors of Skia High School. He was already 7 late and John cringed at the scolding he was most likely going to receive. The hallways were pretty empty and John was doing a dash to science and checking his phone one last time when he ran into something in the middle of the hallway "gah" He yelped as he ran into something (someone) who felt very much human. He recovered his balance pretty quickly though against the wall and stuttered a quick, flustered, "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to run into you are you okay?!"

"Oomph!" Dave exclaimed as he fell on his ass. Cal started barking up a storm at whoever had run into him. "Cal! Stop!" he ordered, before turning his face toward where the currently apologizing person was. "It's no problem. Just help me up." Wait, a dog? That confused him for a second but John was still mortified that held actually knocked a person over in his reckless way to class and hurriedly bent down to grab the boys hand and help him up.

"Wow I'm so sorry like, but, that's not something that usually happens" John trailed off his rant and looked the other boy over just to make sure he hadn't really done any TOO BAD damage. He looked okay (maybe more that okay…WAIT JOHN NO) and John smiled in relief. The other boy was wearing pretty casual wear with a red and white long-sleeved shirt and some nice jeans. He also wore some pretty classy movie-actor shades. Whew, well gosh that looks like a nice dog. Dave brushed at his clothing a bit before registering the person's statement. "Oh yeah this is Lil Cal or cal for short. He's a seeing eye dog." Turning to the dog he spoke, "Cal find!" at once the dog started nudging things towards him. He sighed in relief, and bent to pick up his books, bag, and iPhone. John puzzled over that for a second. "Seeing eye dog?" he echoed back lamely, quirking an eyebrow. Then it hit him like a punch in the stomach and he mentally cursed his slowness. "Oh. OH!" His eyes widened a bit behind his glasses and he quickly bent down next to the boy and helped him pick up his stuff. He gathered some notebooks and pens off the floor and handed them to the boy. "I- crap. I'm uh, John by the uh way." He smiled the dorky smile he usually had when he was meeting new people but then remembered that the act was useless and he felt kind of stupid,

"Uh, so do you have class?" Dave sighed as he heard the boy, john, realize what was wrong with him. "Yeah I'm blind. Names Dave." he accepted the books and pens from john. "Yeah, but I got lost. I'm supposed to be in science." Dave. Nice name.

"Oh! Awesome! That's exactly the class I'm late to!" John picked up a last pencil off the ground and gave it eraser-side down to Dave,

"You have Ms. Roxy, right? She's really great and really funny. Although, I'm pretty sure that's not coffee in her thermos if know what I mean, hehe." John started walking down the hallway with a this way when he realized again that he was being a dufus and he walked back over to Dave arm and kind of hovered for a second not really knowing what to do. "Should I take your arm or give you directions or..." John blushed at how useless he was at this, "or..." Dave stood there as he rambled. He assumed john wanted to show him the class as he heard his footsteps leave before coming back. Cal whined slightly and bumped johns arm. "Put your arm by my left arm" Dave said, helping out. He knew john was just hovering and it was annoying. "I'll hold your arm okay?" John nodded and slid Dave's arm into his,

"Okay, yeah. Sorry" God, Dave is such a cool kid and John was already acting so stupid. They started walking down the hallway though and it was almost peaceful. Usually the hallways were so crowded and busy, but now they were just large and empty.

"Her class is just a few more feet like around this corner...thing. And yeah, so, first day, huh?" Rambling had always been a specialty of John's. Dave chuckled at john's rambling, lil cal following close behind. "Yeah, we just moved here from Texas. Said Bro said we needed a change" he shakes his head, "that guy is nuts"

"Wow, from Texas to Washington of all places! That's pretty interesting. It's kind of really cold here." Dave's chuckle was some kind of infectious and John laughed out a huff of breath after the kid. He stopped a little before the door and smiled down at Hal before moving and opening the door labeled 'Pink Cat Science Lat *Lab'

"So, here we are," He said somewhat quietly to Dave and then peeked into the classroom. Cal went stiff before relaxing, smelling cat. "Thanks, john" whispered Dave, squeezing his arm. "So are we gonna go in?" John opened his mouth but a yelled "Hullo boys!" welcomed them inside instead. Roxy had been sitting on the top of her desk, thermos in hand when John had first peeked in and now she had slid off and was walking towards them. "I was wonderi'n when yuu-you boys whould shhhow up!"

"Umm..." starts Dave, overwhelmed by the smell of liquor. She was a brilliant teacher in all ways except for casual speaking. She had some kind of difficulty with that. John had heard that she'd grown up almost alone though so he supposed she had some right to be.

"Hi Mr. Roxy, sorry I'm-we're-late." He carefully guided Dave through the door and into the room. "Don't worry, she's really nice. Just a little...different," He whispered as he walked into the room, Roxy winking at him in an odd fashion from where she was leaning on another student's desk.

"Mhm..." replied Dave, still a little nauseated. Roxy smiled through her black lipstick pointed them both to two desks near the right side of the room- close to the door. "Jusht sit over there you tow-two." Then she went back to explaining something extremely advanced with perfect grammar and syntax. John guided Dave happily over to the two desks and placed the Dave's notebooks on the surface of one. Cal followed and lay under the desk Dave sat at.

"Hey john? Could you hand be the notebook that says science in braille?"

"Uh, sure. Yeah." He bit his lip, "Actually uhm. Dave I don't know braille." John looked at the different notebooks Dave was holding and the little dots that rose from the cover of each one. He ran his fingers over the top of them and still nothing. He chuckles sheepishly.

"Right I forgot. Here, give me your hand dude." taking his hand, Dave dotted out the form of s and c. "feel for those two letters"

John's eyes widened again as Dave led his fingers over the dots and he nodded and tried to remember the letters with a soft, "oh. Thanks." He picked out the notebook with the dots in the right pattern and handed it to Dave. Kind of awed. Dave chuckled and looked at the sleeping form of cal.

"Lazy mutt" muttered Dave, pulling out his braille writer and listening to Roxy teach. "Alright and then here we subtract this hydrogen molecule because otherwise it's not stable and we need valence-GASP! OMGF I FORGOT!" Roxy gasped and walked back over to Dave's seat. "Class thish is Dave! He's gonna be joining us from here on out. Please be nice and help him around BC yeah."

"Really?" whispered Dave, hearing his classmates start whispering. The last thing he needed was pity and or rumors. She waited for the class to nod with a cheerful "hey Dave" and then smiled, "good." Everyone looked at Dave and John wasn't sure what to do because his arm was still kind of linked with Dave's and so he kind of just sat there smiling too.

"Don't worry; these guys are mostly really nice." John said quietly. It was a small school kind of and this class only had like 11 kids. Dave's grip tightened slightly but relaxed as he said this.

"Alright, I believe you." he whispered. John smiled and squeezed Dave's arm a little in return before Roxy started her teaching again and the rest of the kids looked back at her. The girl sitting across from them, Rose (John's self-appointed therapist and one of his best friends), raised an eyebrow at Dave to John and smiled questioningly and John just smiled back at her and focused back on Roxy's talk. Gosh, his friends (and everyone) were going to be all over Dave during lunch because new people were kind of a rare thing...and that kind of worried John...a little. Dave tried to focus on the lesson but he could feel all the eyes on him, and it was making him nervous. Dammit! He was not going to panic here! Roxy stopped a long dialog on something about genetics and turned back to the class, taking another swing from her thermos, "alright, thatsh all for today peeps. Do the homewoek and I'll shee you next clash- class" She sat behind her desk and started typing something while the kids started to get up and stretch. 'Fuck' John thought as Rose, Feferi, and Jade all leapt out of their chairs and bounded over to him and Dave.

"We're getting some company," John sighed and moved slightly closer to Dave. When the class ended, Dave relaxed against his chair only to stiffen when cal growled. Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed john's arm. John blushed and crappp the girls leaned on their desks and smiled at them. Rose smiled, "Hello Dave, I'm Rose, it's a great pleasure to make your acquaintance and I'm looking forward to a nice future friendship." Jade giggled at the formal introduction and chirpily said, "Hey! I'm Jade! Talk to me if you ever need something! I'll be happy to help!"

Feferi leaned in closer, "So how the glub did you guys meet, hmmm? I'm coralous." Dave was starting to feel crowded but replied anyway.

"Nice to meet you rose, jade. And who are you?" he directed the last part at the girl who asked how they met.

"Oh, I'm Feferi! Fef is fine too though! Hehe." She giggled and batted her eyelashes.

"No it's not fef. I'm the only one w-who can call you that!," a boy in a purple shirt, Eridan, said grumpily.

"Hey it's cool dude" Dave replied, leaning back. "I'll call her ri-ri." he smirked "much cuter name." cal barks in agreement and pops out from under the table, his tail wagging.

"W-what!" Eridan yelped disbelievingly and Feferi smiled extra wide and clapped her hands. "Perfish!" Eridan grumbled something and Jade spotted Cal and instantly fell to the floor to pet him, "Can I touch him?" John rolled his eyes at all of them and chuckled,

"Wow, way to make a good entrance you all. We met on the way to class when I- uh, kinda ran into him." Jade and Rose smirked slightly, bemused and made and 'ouch' expression.

"Well it seems that you two have gotten over that," Rose said, a dangerous smirk ghosting over her soft features and John gave her a part confused, part mortified look.

Dave chuckled at jade's enthusiasm. "Sure, he needs a good petting every now and then."

"Yes!" Jade smiled and pet Cal lovingly on his head. She'd always been a natural with animals- dogs in particular. Turning back to Rose he raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what analyzing bullshit you have in your head but there is nothing but friendship here. I have basically made him my seeing eye person."

John turned to Dave as he challenged Rose- impressed, mostly- and then nodded quickly in agreement, "yeah! Just friends here like, yup, I just scope out the land and relay info haha- yeah you're wrong Rose so..." Rose dismissed John's rant with a slightly smile and turned to Dave with a,

"If you say so. Although I could go more into my analysis and show you my reasoning, but I'll leave that to another time when more data has been collected and categorized in my favor." Dave just rolls his eyes and turns to john.

"So what's next?" John shot one last half-glare at Rose before turning to Dave and thinking.

"Oh, do you know your schedule? Most of us in this grade have the same class periods for the mandatory classes because there's just not a lot of students. So maybe we have some same classes!"

"Hmm... well i think so. here." he pulled out his schedule and hands it to you, showing that he has almost every class with john.

"Oh awesome!" John says excitedly and looks at the clock at the top of the classroom door, "this class will end in like two minutes and then we'll have..." John looked at the schedule, "English with Ms. Jane! After that class it'll be lunch and that'll be...fun?" John chuckled and then turned to Roxy, "do mind if we leave early to get ahead of the crowd?" Roxy waved her thermos, "be gone with yu-you!" she said happily and John nodded a thanks.

"Alright, off we go to English Dave!" Dave nodded and gathered his stuff up, placing it in his bag. Grabbing John's arm, he whistled for cal. "lead the way john. Nice meeting y'all" There was a chorus of "hey yeah! See ya at lunch" "You too, see you later!" "Nice meeting you!" "OH gosh, sea you later!" as they walked out the door and Jade fondly gave Cal a last snuggle before he went. John laughed at the enthusiastic goodbyes and he led Dave out of the room. As they stepped into the hallway John amiably nudged the other boy playfully, "well, that was a hit" he smiled. "So, did you like it?"

Dave smiled. "Yeah I did, surprisingly." he sighed and relaxed, seemingly content on allowing cal and john to lead him. John made a mock gasp, "what do you mean by surprisingly? We are gentlemen and Ladies up here! Hehe. But, yeah, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself to some extent. We can be a bit of a, uh, handful." John looked a bit bashfully at Dave, "So, how do you like English? Good class? Bad?" he shrugs, "eh well depends on the teacher. If they are willing to work with my problem, then it's okay. Otherwise it's hell like any other class. It sucks not being able to read though." John "hmm"-ed thoughtfully and tried to imagine how difficult it would be to not be able to see books and words really. He couldn't. Not really. "So..what do you picture humans as? Like how do you think I look?" John asked curiously, turning a corner. Dave opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off.

"If you say 'like a mega dork' or something like that I will punch you," John laughed and gently squeezed Dave's arm while leaning into him a bit more as his shoulders rose with his laugh.

"Well egderp, I can usually get a rough mental picture if I touch the persons face." he shook his head. "and since I've only touched your arm, I have a guess on height and I have to say, you are quite short." "Hey!" John chuckled even though Dave was pretty much right, "I'm average at least, dude!" John almost walked them into a wall but quickly changed their direction and avoided it, "want me to describe you then?" he starts a bit at the abrupt turn but nods anyway. "sure knock yourself out dude." John smiled then started, "Well, you're actually just a BIT taller than me and you have pretty pale skin I guess-especially since you come from Texas. You have some light freckles I think and your shoes are really awesome and your shades make you look like a celebrity. Your hair is really kind of perfectly styled like how do you do that? It looks windblown but not really? Mine's such a mess aha. So, overall, I guess you look like a pretty cool dude." John ended brightly and tried not to blush at all the compliments he was kind of giving on his own accord. John took a breath, "yup, kind of like that." Dave stands there quietly for a moment before a small smirk appears. "heh, thanks john. Bro does my hair for me and he's awesome like that." John nervously bit the inside of his cheek when Dave stopped but then smiled as well, "no problem. And yeah your brother does sound really awesome. Gosh I kind of wish I had siblings now. Maybe you can do the face touching thing on me sometime and find out just how wickedly AWESOME my face is though" John joked as they reached the English room just as the bell went off with a shrill BRIIIIIIING. He doesn't get to reply as the bell rings, and he enters the classroom after john.

"Alright, here we are, English class. The teacher's Ms. Jane. She's really quiet sometimes but she's super nice and sometimes bakes stuff for the class! Let's see if we can talk to her before class really starts." Dave nods "sure, that'll be nice." cal barked, as if agreeing with him. "Great," John said and led Dave over to Jane. She was a short-ish woman with black hair and long (usually blue-green) skirts. When they entered she gave them a cheery smile and walked over, "Hi, you must be Dave." She grabbed a book from her desk and gave it to Dave. This is in braille and also has a CD that you can listen to too dear. Would you like me to introduce you to the class?" Dave stood there, stunned. None of his teachers had ever tried to get materials that he could use, let alone give them to him. he finally snapped out of his dazed when cal nudged him. "thanks, and yes please"

"Alrighty," she said amiably and waited for the rest of the class to sit down before she started with, "Class, we have a new student in our class today! His name's Dave and he's from Texas and oh, would you like to say anything else?" John wondered if he should step away and allow Dave some space in front of the class but he also didn't really want to leave his side so he kind of scooted a bit further away but so that he was still touching Dave's arm. "yo" he states, raising his hand. "see the dog next to me?" he points at cal, who has sat and is looking at him. "Please don't touch him unless you ask and I give the okay. He is my helper along with john." he turns to Ms. Jane. "that's all miss" Jane smiled her signature smile and waits for the class to end their cheering and claps and happy murmurs before she says, "alright, you two can sit there." She points to some seat in the outer aisle and John leads them there. "Nice ," he whispers happily to Dave as they sit down and gosh he doesn't know why but it feels like he's known Dave for a lot longer than just two periods for some reason.

The bell rang and class began, Jane walking up to the front of the room with a soft-ish smile. "Alright class, we're going to be reading 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and so can everyone please open their books to page IV past the intro?" There was a rustle of pages turning and John looked over to Dave's special book with interest. "Wow, that looks really cool," he smiled and leaned a bit over Dave's shoulder. He continued to watch Dave with curiosity, as did some of the other students. Feeling eyes on him, Dave turned towards john. "you think so?" he asks, feeling a bit self-conscious. Most people thought it was strange that his book didn't have words in it. John raised an eyebrow,

"Yeah, of course it's cool man. I mean just look at how intricate that is! It's amazing that you know how to read it. I wouldn't ever be able to make head or tails of it." John chuckled and rested his head in his hand, looking back at Jane for another minute before his eyes drifted back to Dave. "that's awesome you think that!" replied Dave excitedly, bouncing a bit in his seat. "Not many people think that.!" Oh gosh how was Dave so cute. "Aha, then they're totally wrong man. Whoa, haha." John was about to say something else back when Jane closed the book she'd been reading aloud to the class, "Alright class, remember, a paper's due next class." There was a murmur among the students and she walked over to Dave, "you can just videotape the essay or maybe get someone else to write it while you tell them what to write? Or if you know other ways that's perfectly fine too m'love." She smiled at both of them, her glasses round and framing. Dave nods. "thanks Ms. Crocker. my computer is set up so I can type and it reads to me" Even while dismissing her suggestion, he was celebrating inside. God, when was the last time someone had besides bro had actually cared about if he needed help or not?

"Perfect," she says and then walks back to the front of the class where the PE teacher Mr. English just poked his head in. She had such a crush on him...too bad John's senses told him that Jake wasn't exactly interested. "So," John starts, "wanna go to lunch." He's kind of glad Dave can't see him; he's such a dork and like Dave is, well, cool.

"Library or cafeteria or roof?" Dave pondered for a moment, unsure.

"will we be swarmed on the roof?"

"Nope!" John dug into his backpack and took out a key chains with 3 keys around the loop, "I'm the library TA and vice president so I get to go to the roof and other places. We'll have our own space." John slung his backpack over his shoulder and offered his arm to Dave, "ready?" gathering his stuff, Dave stood and located johns arm. "yeah. Cal!" Cal came out from under the table and standing by him. "lead the way John, away from the leeches and bothers we call classmates!" he chuckled, stepping out so John could get by. John smiled at Dave's description of the other students, "aw come on, they aren't THAT bad. They're just interested in their awesome new classmate. I mean Fef totally had a thing for you." John walked them out of the class and then took a mostly hidden path to the roof stairs so that the other students wouldn't see them escape. " The way she was looking at you got Eridan- that rude dude that you told off- all huffy."

"well he ain't gotta worry about me taking his girl" scoffs Dave, "I'm not a girlfriend or chick stealer! that isn't cool!" He shrugged "plus, ri-ri isn't my type." John hummed at this,

"well, they aren't really dating, you know? Like they're just childhood friends but he wants something more. She actually likes a dude- who's actually pretty cool!- named Sollux. He's really awesome like into computers and stuff. He likes my buddy Karkat though and he likes, well, I'm not sure to be honest but uh, yeah." John stopped his ramble as they reached the foot of the stairs to the roof. "Oh, stairs up ahead. Are you good with those?"

"ummm..." Dave thought for a moment. Yes he could do them, but barely. Bro usually had to carry him or he took an elevator. Cal could also let him ride. "mm I can try, but bro usually carries me" he says, a bit embarrassed, "doesn't want me falling."

Their school was too small for elevators so the next best thing: "Dude, I can totally carry you. Probably." John rolled up his sleeves. He didn't really boast or look it, but he'd gotten in shape with all the book carrying (only library assistant) and the stairs weren't very tall. Just a couple of steps. "Which way should I carry you? Don't worry, I promise not to drop you and it's not very far up, 5 steps at most." Dave blinked at johns offer "umm piggyback" he replied, kinda surprised by his offer.

"No problem." John knelt down a bit in front of John so that his back was facing him, "alright, my shoulders are right in front of you." carefully reaching out, Dave grabbed his shoulders and settled on John's back, gripping tightly. "Alright, up we go," John stood up and walked in a circle once to make sure he could support Dave's weight and then carefully ascended the stairs, making sure to keep near the rail just in case. It took about 10 seconds to get to the top but then they were on the top platform. "Okay, we're there, ready to get down?"

"yeah, thanks dude" he replied, calling for Cal so that he didn't lose him. John lowered himself again so that his knees were just touching the tiled ground and so that Dave's feet were touching the ground. "Wow, you're actually not that hard to carry around. But still, whew."

"Anywho, the door to outside is just in front of us," John took Dave's hand and led him, "it's actually really nice outside today!" Dave chuckled as he climbed down.

"yeah I don't eat a lot. Mostly cause our fridge is filled with shitty swords and bro works at a club and never goes shopping" John turned to him while he fumbled with the keys in the door,

"swords?! Wow, that's really something. Uh, why swords? I mean, swords are cool- no pun intended- but why in the fridge?"

Dave chuckled, "well he collects them and ran out of room in his bedroom so stuffed them in there. that and we used to strife quite a bit."

"Oh." John did a double-take at Dave as the key turned and opened the door, wind rushing in to meet them. "So you weren't born..blind then?" Crap, bad question. John you are so stupid what are you doing. John looked back at Dave, left hand still holding his. Dave goes quiet.

"nah..." he says quietly but firmly, signaling he doesn't want to talk about it. John stumbled over his thoughts and words, drawing his hands up, "SORRY GOD I AM SO. SORRY. I JUST SAID IT AND THAT WAS-SO STUPID I'M SORRY I- NO I MEAN I GET WHY YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT I JUST, GOD, SORRY,"

"John, calm down. Its fine" states Dave, reaching for John. "Just stop flailing and help the poor hungry blind kid onto the roof" "YEAH. just. gosh.." John looked to the side and ruffled his hair through his fingers, "that was stupid, sorry." John calmed down a bit, biting the inside of his mouth. He took Dave's hand softly, hesitantly again and led him outside onto the roof. "Well, here it is. Let's get to the warm part of the roof." He nods I agreement as the wind was biting through his thin shirt. "Yeah, it feels like Jack Frost decided he wanted to come play here today"

"Pft, yeah, did you watch that movie? The Guardians or something," John said before he could keep his film obsession under wrap. He walked them over to the part of the ceiling that was hit by the most sun and sat them both down. Maybe Dave would just ignore it if he changed the subject, "so, is Texas a lot warmer then? (stupid question) I mean, like is this cold for you?" Dave noticed but he decided not to mention the topic change and answered. "Hell yeah, this is Arctic." He shivered, "This time of year it'd normally around 70 or 80 degrees outside. This is fucking cold as the kingdom of the white witch"

John felt his eyes widen a little, " 70 whole degrees? We barely even get there much on a good summer! Wow, wait, here," John shrugged off his jacket and hung it around Dave's shoulders, "not much, but it should be warmer. I feel kind of bad about not warning you about the bad weather, aha." John took out his lunch box and opened it, sitting next to Dave so that their elbows bumped. He grabbed Johns Jacket and held it close, shivering from the cold. Opening his own lunch box and groan. "of course he did this." John raised an eyebrow and looked over at Dave, enjoying the extra warmth, "who did what?"

"my brother packed my lunch." was his simple explanation.

"Ah? Okay I'll take that even though I'm not exactly what brothers' pack into lunches." John laughed and took a bite of his sandwich. "Something nice?" Dave snorted at john's question. "Nice? More like freaky." He reached into his lunchbox and pulled out a small note with a mini snippet attached. "Does this look normal to you?" John raised a confused eyebrow, "I dunno...is that a Texas thing or..? I don't really know what that is." John laughed and looked at the miniature puppet-like doll attached. Its nose was really long and uhm, it was...shapely? "What is it?"

"And I mean like, maybe it's just your brother's way of being nice?" John shrugged against Dave's shoulders and took a bite of his sandwich. He groaned at John's suggestion. "John no, no, no. this is not a pleasant object for me. It is a smuppet. a. smuppet." he threw it away, shuddering.

"Smuppet." John giggled (not in a girly way! no, of course not. gee.) "Smup-pet. Like that's a thing. I-" John crawled the short distance to where the smuppet had landed and picked it up, examining it. "I dunno man, this is kind of...interesting. And I mean, I bet a lot of love was made into making this because I haven't exactly seen a smuppet store or anything."

"Are you sure you don't want to save it? I mean.." John scooted next to Dave again and placed it in front of them.

"dude, do you even know what those are used for?!" Dave almost yelps, tossing it away again. God even when he was blind the things still creep him out.

"No? Being taped to your lunch box notes I'm guessing, aha," John nudged Dave's shoulder and smiled at him, looking over at the boy's lunch box, "so what do you have to eat? Something good?" Dave turned to him, incredulous. "you... what... ugh never mind." he quickly felt through his lunchbox. "mm a sandwich, chips an apple and... apple juice!" he quickly pulled out the juice, holding it close. "my precious"

John raised an eyebrow at him and examined the apple-juice (basically) hugging Dave. "Is it really that great? It looks like normal apple juice. Precious. Daaaaavveeeee?" John ate another bite of his sandwich and took his water bottle from his lunch box, "but wow that looks like a pretty awesome lunch." Dave mock gasped. "john how could you say that? apple juice is the elixir of the gods! it is precious jooooohnnnnn." he opened it and took a swig.

"Surrrre," John chuckled, "and my goddess comes in the shape of Betty Crocker cupcakes." God, Goosebumps. "Oh, anyways, so do you walk home or does your brother pick you up or bus or..? I mean like, uh," John blushed a bit and furrowed his eyebrows a bit. God, he was so bad at this. "Maybe we could hang out and listen to music or just I dunno, chill or something sometime?"

"I mean, only if you wanted to and stuff!"

"john..." he put a finger near John's lips "calm down. It'd be awesome to hang out sometime and my brother picks me up." he sat back and grabbed his sandwich, taking a bite. John felt another large, dorky smile come on but he bit it back with a, "dude that was totally my right eyeball. and that makes sense."

"Oh, sorry." he chuckled. "Let me map your face and that won't happen again"

John finished his food and tried to douse his blush by drinking half of his bottle of water. His phone vibrated in his left pocket and he checked it:

TT: So, how in the rendezvous on the scenic roof going? The temperature is said to be quite chilly out today, I do suggest keeping close to stay warm.

John glared at it (fondly, Rose was such a know-it-all but so nice as well) and pushed it into the front pocket of his bag, "Gosh, Rose is getting the wrong idea I uh, think. aha."

"What do you mean?" he asked, leaning up john. Sue him, John was warm and dammit it was cold. "It is fuckin cold" he mumbled, leaning closer.

Dave's previous statement finally caught up with him. Face mapping? John felt the blush do the opposite of go away. No, shush brain, this was so that Dave knew what his face looked like and stuff. Deep breath. "No, I mean, you didn't REALLY poke me but oh, yeah, that would probably be helpful I guess?" John bit the inside of his lip. "And Rose was just commenting on the cold weather and our friendship and...stuff." It was a good idea to stick close to Dave though, despite what Rose was really implying. He wondered if his cheeks were warm enough for Dave to feel them and know.

"ah okay." he nodded, "rose seems like a nosy person."

shifting, Dave reached out at hand and found Johns cheek. "is it okay if I...?" he trailed off, waiting for permission.

John shrugged, breathing out slowly so that he could see his breath as a white cloud in the air, "I guess she kind of is, and oh-uhm, yeah. It's fine." Dave's hand was warm against his cheek for some reason and John found himself staring at Dave's blond hair and his own reflection in Dave's shades. There were butterflies rising into his stomach again and gosh that was so confusing but John just kind of sat still, staring. Dave smiled a bit and slowly began to move his hand over Johns face, mapping over his lips, cheeks eyes and glasses and his hair. His stayed quiet as he did this, concentrating carefully so to commit John's face to memory. The silence was peaceful, kind of calming, with soft wind making a whooshing sound against the cement walls of the building but it didn't even feel cold anymore. They sat like that for a minute, John's eyes closing as Dave moved his hands around his face. "So," John smiled, "Like what you feel?" It was a joke, maybe a little rough from the slight chill, a little quiet because of their previous silence and John wondered if it had sounded like one. A smirk appeared on Dave's face as he slowly removed his hand and leaned closer. "Yes. yes I do" he whispered in Johns ear before pulling away, wearing a large smirk.

"HUH!" John blushed furiously at the whisper so close to his ear and his hand flew up to it, staring at Dave with large blue eyes and a gaping mouth. God it shouldn't be possible to make a smirk that good. It was a slightly lopsided half-smile kind of smirk that looked playful but...well, and it looked perfect on Dave's face. "Th-thanks?!" John stuttered a bit as he calmed himself.

John licked his lips because they were suddenly really dry, "That's uh, good to know. pft."

Dave laughed out at John's stutter and sudden shyness that was far too attractive and cute for his own good. "Oh your reaction was priceless" he settled down, still smirking. "but yeah I do, and yeah it is." John had to laugh at Dave's laugh and crossed his arms in a mock-mad position," humph, well it better be, I have to live my whole life with this face I'll let you know! Hehe, but uh, your face isn't too bad either, I guess." John bumped his shoulder into Dave's lightly again and then stood up. "I think 3rd period's about to start. You ready for the next horrors that await us?"

"I think we both have gym next. It's a pretty awesome class, I mean, as awesome as gym can get." he nodded and quickly packed up his lunch, reaching for john. Cal barked from where he lay and assisted in pulling/lifting Dave onto his feet. John caught Dave's hand and led them back into the school. The way down the stairs was about the same as the way up the stairs but easier and the gym wasn't very far away. John kept glancing over at Dave and smiling and he glad that no one else was in the hallways yet because he probably looked like a dork. "So, our gym teacher is Jake or Mr. English. We're actually like distant cousins or something, so, it's pretty interesting, aha. He's really cool though because he actually makes gym a bearable class."

"yeah... but I'm not a big fan of gym. sucks when you can't see"

he chuckled. "oh well might as well try. who are the other students?"

"I'm not really a sports person myself but, yeah, it's okay. Oh, and the other students are Jade, Karkat, Sollux, Feferi, Vriska, You, and me. They're pretty nice, well, kind of?"

"kind of? what do you mean by that?" questioned Dave, feeling a bit apprehensive. "they won't attack me right?"

"Well, watch out for Karkat. He's kind of a swearer and he has a quick temper. Last year he and Sollux got in a fight and both of them went home with broken noses and Karkat had to go to the hospital because he broke his hand while punching a wall. He's actually a pretty good guy behind all that though."

"Just don't make fun of Rom cons okay, just, nope."

"rom coms?" he questioned, feeling very amused. "I have nothing against them so that shouldn't be a probl... whoa!" he stumbled over something and nearly faceplants, reaching out for cal and john.

"Yeah w-Ah! Dave!" John jumped forward to grab Dave but someone had already caught him. shit. John attempted a smile, helping Dave up, "hey Karkat, uh." Karkat was kind of short so he was kind of easy to miss while talking with someone else. "WHAT THE FUCK YOU FUCKING MORONS YOU ALMOST CRUSHED ME WITH A HUMAN MEAT PUNCHING BAG THAT WEIGHS MORE THAN AN APPARENT SHIT TON." Oh great. Even after years of friendship Karkat still hadn't picked up any sympathy at all for John.

"Sorry?"

"thanks, whoever the fuck you are" pipes Dave, extracting himself from the short yelling form of Karkat. "sorry about that dude"

cal barked at Karkat, not sure who he was. "Cal stop"

"HMPH, you better fucking be," Karkat grumbled and then continued to go into the gym hall and slam the locker door shut. "Nice guy, huh," John smiled after he left, "he's kind of my best bud but we don't always get along so well. Schools kind of his tantrum place. He's nicer in parks and stuff." John looked down and smiled at Cal, "haha, yeah that's right, bark at the mean dude, Cal." Alright, let's get changed for gym.

"wow...lovely guy" Dave grabbed his arm again. "lead the way. come on cal, and don't encourage him!"

"Really," John laughed and then led them into the locker room, "are you okay though?"

"And don't worry, Karkat loves dogs. I bet he walked away so fast because he didn't to stoop to petting his frienemy's dog, hehe."

"ah" was all Dave said as he placed his stuff down on the bench and started to change. "so who is in this class?"

"Woahh! Wait, w-wait! U-UH your locker's over there I uh," John took a breath," I mean, that's uh fine I'll be like 3 feet away okay?"

"sure man" Dave replied, shrugging off his shirt.

John tried to swallow his blush and turned away, striping off his shirt over his head and quickly putting on his gym shirt and shorts. "Uhm, Dave can I turn around now orrr?"

He patted his cheeks and closed his locker door, putting in his contacts clumsily in place of his glasses. His glasses had always gotten smashed when he wore them in this glass so he was just taking precautions.

"hmm?" he questioned, slipping on his shorts. "oh yeah sure man, don't know what you're worried about. it's not like I can see anything"

"Y-Yeah but *I* can!" John said in a rush, still blushing, "I mean, whatever. I guess? UH, let's go out into the gym and meet Jake." smmmooooottthhhee, John's brain told him matter-a-factly, and John had an urge to tell it to shut up. Dave chuckled at the embarrassment in john's voice. "sure lets go." He reached out for Johns arm, not wanting to fall on his way out.

John took Dave's hand with a shy smile and led him back out to the gym where some of the students had already arrived and were either playing amongst each other or just sitting down and waiting for class to start. Jake was standing in the corner looking at a clipboard and John led Dave over to him.

TG: cal starts barking at something in front of him. Dave assumed it was the teacher "so who's the teacher?" he asks, curious.

"Jake, my cousin, remember?" John chuckled, "hey Jake! We have a new student today."

Jake looked up from his clipboard and grinned when he spotted John and Dave. "hello there John! who's your friend with the dog?" he asked, approaching and slapping John on the back.

"Oof. That's uh, Dave. Aha," John swatted playfully at Jake's hand and bumped him in the shoulder, "and 'the dog' is named Cal by the way." John smiled and brought Dave a little closer. "So, what are we doing today in gym then?"

He chuckled and caught John's fist. "we're doing warm up and then going into a blind relay race." Dave

John looked at Jake uncertainly- well, curiously- eyebrow raising, "but won't that be kind of difficult for Dave to do? I mean, I can only imagine but that would be pretty rough."

"well he has an advantage doesn't he?" he chuckles. "he's used to being unable to see cousin, so he'll be far more sure than any of you chaps" Dave nodded. "he has a point. I had to get around without a cane or Cal sometimes."

John looked over at Dave, "what do you think? I mean, yeah okay but the whole class? I mean like what if someone runs into him or something? I mean, what if everybody runs into each other. That's kind of risky...but yeah Dave would have an advantage, aha." Crap why was he acting so worried. Dave was stronger than he was so why. "I mean, I guess if you think it'll work." John bit his lip and looked at his cousin with a 'if he gets hurt I will totally punch you' look or as close to it as he could get, pouting a little.

Jake chuckles at the face John pulled. "alright you, take Dave over with the rest of the class. we're starting soon."

"Fineee," John said (somewhat whiney but not really, john assured himself) and took Dave over to where the rest of the class had kind of gotten together in a group. "So yeah, I guess it'll be a good experience anyway, probably. I mean, this time you'll probably have to help me get around!" John chuckled and leaned a bit on Dave before sitting them down in the assigned seating places on the floor.

Dave chuckled as well. "yeah won't that be an experience." Cal barked, nudging him. "oh right boy." Dave let go of John and grabbed Cal's harness. "can you let Mr. English know I'm doing a walk around real fast?"

"Of course," John got back up, making sure Dave got up fine too and then ran back over to Jake. "So Dave's going to do a short walk around before the class starts, I'm uh, guessing that's okay right." John chuckled and looked back up to his cousin. It was a little odd though because they looked pretty similar so it was more like looking into a slightly distorted mirror. john cast a quick look over his shoulder just to make sure Dave was still okay and then looked back at Jake expectantly.

He nodded. "that's fine, he's probably getting a good feel for the room, like latula's sister." He patted John's head. It was always interesting to see how John changed how he looked, even if it was unconsciously.

"Great, thanks," John grinned widely and imitated his cousin's double pistol and wink motion before skipping back over to Dave and Cal. "Dude. dude. I just remembered! You should meet Terezi! She's kind of in the same position that you're in and she's really great. She's actually a really great artist. Like better than everyone in the AP art class even! Remind me later because I think you two would really hit it off," John pulled at Dave's sleeve excitedly.

"whoa! dude!" he laughs at his enthusiasm. "okay okay! totally, but don't take me out!" Dave quickly finished up his walk around and went back over to the stands as Jake came over.

"Pft, as if," John smiled and followed Dave back to where the class was sitting and watched as Jake stood in front of the class.

"we'll see about that" snorted Dave, as Jake began to talk. "alright class, everyone on the floor and begin warm-up! once you're done, do a lap around the gym jogging and come back to the bleachers."

"wanna hold hands? for the jogging part that is. If you want to?" John joked, kind of, "I mean, Vriska's a shover when she runs and I don't want you falling over or anything but I'm sure you could take her on, haha." John bent down to touch his toes and the stretched his arms behind his back, "ouch." Dave reached down and landed in a rather impressive split. "sure" he joked back, "If you can handle my flash step"

John gaped at him, as did some other kids, impressed, "whoa man, that's uh, wow." John blinked, "wow. uh, I dunno, I think you might actually be a knight or something and I'm just a poor prince(ss) in your care for this." John chuckled and finished his arm stretches. "I don't even want to know how long that took to perfect that when I can't even really touch my toes, Dave."

"hell yeah dude, I'm crazy flexible," he stands and brings his leg next to his ear like a dancer, "I've been doing this for years" he grunted, bending into a backbend. The slack jaw was back and John found that he couldn't even really even construct a proper sentence, "I-you, what are you that's really cool wh- dude that's really awesome how the frick." John was a little more than confused but decided to flow with it. "Whoa okay, that's really impressive and yeah, you're going to rock at this sports stu-" "WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK HOW THE SHIT MUFFIN IN A NON UNSTICK PAN ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" he chuckled and proceeds to do several more contortionist like stretches before standing. "I'll tell you about it later." John turned around a looked at Karkat,

"Dave's like some kind of master at this." Karkat just stared incredulously.

John chuckled and looked over at Jake, "so, class starting soon then? Otherwise I'm going to get Dave to spill his secrets by using the artful technique of tickle-fu." Jake had looked over and was currently standing slack jawed as well. "uh... ... my word I haven't seen anyone that flexible in years..." Dave hmm'ed and turned to john. "we gonna run?" John laughed at his cousin's face (even though it probably looked pretty similar to how he had just looked) and slung an arm around Dave's shoulders, "yup, let's get going." John retracted his arm and started to jog.

"I'm totally going to win this though Dave. Totally."

"oh are you now?' he questioned, jogging with him, cal following close behind. "you can run?"

"Sure," John thought about his mad-hall dashes and runs home, "kind of. I challenge you."

"oh you're on" chuckled Dave. "ready?"

John pulled back a smile, "as ready as ever."

"Ready, set," John looked at Dave.

"GO!" Dave yells and takes off, using his memory and hearing to avoid the others.

John almost laughed but took in a breath instead and started running after Dave. Goddamn, that kid was fast. How? John was taller than Dave but Dave had more speed, a lot more. It took a lot of effort just to stay a little behind Dave.

The other kids who had been jogging moved out of the way quickly and watched them both bemusedly, some of them smiling. Some even kind of looked impressed. Dave quickly finished his lap and stopped next to Jake, who had pulled out a stop watch and timed them. "how'd I do coach? John?" he asked, breathing lightly. Jake just stared at him. "bloody hell, you are very fast young man. I haven't seen anyone that fast since high school."

John skidded in a few full seconds after Dave, panting and coughing from running too fast, "good- cough- god. That was-" John tried to say something else but was interrupted by his lungs and ran to the water fountain instead.

"huh?" questioned Dave, turning toward where he heard John run. "dude, you okay?"

John nodded, before coming up from the water, "yeah, just uh, out of shape and my asthma working up again. It's not a- uh- big deal dude." John licked his lips and leaned a bit on Dave because his throat was still burning, "But dude YOU were so awesome, like wow you should try out for track or something!" John coughed again but it was settling and he was glad that he didn't need to use his inhaler because that was kind of embarrassing. "That was pretty greaaaaaaaat," a female wearing a grey T-shirt with a spider logo on it said as she walked up to Dave. She rested her painted nails on his shoulder and just let it sit there while she talked, "I'm Vriska, and yeah, I heard what John said to you and you should. I'm on the team too, we'd make an awesome team." dave turned his head towards her, a smirk appearing on his face. "is that so? well Vriska hate to tell you, but i'm not interested. Plus bro wouldn't appreciate it."

Vriska almost frowned. Almost. The bottom of her lips turning slightly downwards. "Ah, well then. I mean, I'm sure we could hang some other time or find something *else* to do." She slid her hand off Dave's shoulder and it went to rest on her hip. John looked up at the unexpected intrusion and frowned when he saw who it was. "Oh. Hi Vriska." She smirked at him, blue lipstick somehow never sticking to her teeth, "Oh, almost coughed up another lung today I see John. You know that it's your allllllllergy season. Watch out,aha."

Dave frowned at the teasing Vriska was dishing out on John and pushed her hand away. "first off, not interested. Second, leave my bro alone, or your ass will going flying to Timbuktu and back before you can say homestuck."

Vriska raised a slanted, makeup-ed eyebrow and retracted her hand, "wow, hot one are we? Well, that works too, you're just a cute face." Vriska chuckled in the way that always set John's nerves on end and then walked back over to the rest of the class with a "bye boys." John glared at her and stood up "god, she's..." John sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he looked up at Dave, "thanks for,well, that. And you're definitely more than just a cute face man, aha." Wait. Waiiit. crap. "I mean! I'm not calling your face cute or anything I mean it is but fuck I mean your face is great but she's not right and uh, yeah, yeah, uh, crap."

He snorts and nods, "yeah well she just screams bitch so i'm not dealing with it." he paused at Johns statement about his face and blushed the faintest amount. "oh yeah i get ya dude." he coughed slightly. "let's join the others huh?"

"Pft, yeah, let's go," John took Dave's arm by habit as they walked over to the rest of the kids and sat down to wait for further instructions. The two sat right as Jake began to explain the game they would be doing. "alright class, we will be doing a skill and trust game. A Blind Relay Race. you need to partner up with one person and come get a blindfold. one of you will wear the blindfold while the other plays guide. you then will go through an obstacle course i have set up, retrieve one item from the table and then come back. once you have, switch and do it again. the first team back wins!"

John looked over at Dave and raised an eyebrow, smiling "wanna partner up dude?" John looked at the obstacle course from afar with slight foreboding, "this looks pretty difficult though. Uh, would you want to go first or should I and you do like the good last run." Dave nodded. "Sure lets partner, and you guide the first time."

John chuckled and nudged Dave, "you totally showed Vriska though; I'm still kind of cracking up about that. She looked completely pissed off for a second."

Dave nodded. "sure lets partner, and you guide the first time." he chuckled "and Vriska is just hot air, pop her and she'll leave ya be. now come on dude!"

"Oh, right!" John ran to Jake and got a blind fold to give to Dave, "here dude, also, I'll try to be the best guide I can be!" John walked Dave over to the starting line of the obstacle course, in a line next to the other pairs.

"um john?" Dave tapped his glasses "I don't need that." John closed his eyes for a second and smacked his face, "god. yeah, sorry, that was stupid." John laughed at his mistake and placed the blind fold on the ground. "Right, ok, sorry dude."

"it's cool dude" Dave chuckles as Jake comes over. Standing by the beginning, he called out. "ready, set... begin!"

"Alright!" John uses what he knows from guiding Dave all day to lead him through the obstacles, talking sometimes like "corner" "step" "watch out to the right" "there's a turn up ahead" it wasn't actually too hard and they were fast walking until there was their first REAL hurdle. It was actually and actual, legit hurdle. "Okay dude there's a hurdle and stop when I tell you to stop. Okay. stop. Good, now take a high step like, yeah, that good, one foot's over now the other- higher. Yeah, okay, great! Hurdle avoided."

Dave was enjoying the challenge and listened carefully to each of John's instructions. he responded "thanks dude" or "okay" every time he gave an instruction. There were a few more challenges and twisting corners but then he saw the finish line and John breathed a "we're almost there." They stepped over the line and John let out a breath he'd been holding, "looks like we're first here." Once John stopped, Dave waited until John put the blind fold on.

John fumbled with the blind fold and got it on, the world going dark. It was scary, in a way. The black made him feel kind of lost and disoriented, "Dave..?"

"right here dude" he replied, taking Johns arm and placing his hand on Daves upper arm. "hold here and i'll guide you out kay?"

"Mmmn, yeah," John held onto Dave closer than Dave had held (and usually held) onto him but he just wanted to be close to someone. There was a kind of eerie calmness to the darkness, like some part of his life had just vanished and was replaced with nothing instead. "God."

"hmm?" hummed Dave, starting out into the course, softly saying the directions to john. "lift your foot up about a foot... there ya go, you cleared it..." It was actually really easy being led by Dave, who was really great at giving directions, "your voice is really nice like it," John lifted his foot like Dave asked, "sounds, well, I dunno but it sounds really interesting somehow." John said in a splash of sudden motivation to say something.

"really?" he asks, pausing at the hurdle from earlier. "okay, same hurdle from my run, just high step.. a bit more... there! now swing the other leg over" John nodded in concentration and felt slightly dizzy as they continued to turn corners, "so this isn't exactly the best time to ask I guess but, how do you like this school now, like, so far?"

"it's pretty great. a bit confusing, but thats normal" Dave walked a few more feet and stopped. "we're out. John smiled as they walked out, "great gods that was something!" John turned his head looking for Dave again, "so, dude, what place did we get in?" John reached for the knot at the back of the blind fold and tried to undo it but it was in pretty tight. Jake spoke up, a slight awe in his voice.

"you chaps are the first back. the others are just now switching partners" Dave smirked.

"Oh, awesome! We won Dave!" John tried to fist bump the air but he was afraid that he'd hit someone, "Dave could you maybe, uhm, well, help me untie the blind fold I can't seem to get it off for some reason. Like I think I tied it too tight I can't even just pull it over my head."

"sure" he chuckled and reached over, feeling johns head and found the knot, untying it.

John blinked as light started to filter in and breathed in relief, "Oh gosh, thanks Dave." He blinked a couple of times; adjusting to the new light and then looked over to where some other teams were starting to slowly arrive. Second was Jade and Vriska and third was Karkat and Sollux. "Oh, hey, let me introduce you to Sollux!" John took Dave's arm and dragged him over to Karkat's team.

"Whoa okay who?" He asked, hurrying after John. "Dude, don't just grab the blind guy, you'll startle the crap outta me."

Cal barked and followed quickly, yipping at john as if scolding him.

"Oh please, you were right behind he and I know how good you are at knowing where stuff is now," but John did glance over at Dave just to make sure he wasn't really too mad, "sorry. Oh, and hey, Sollux!" The pale boy with bicolored glasses turned towards them. "What the fuck. You don't have to thream all the time JE."

Sollux squinted behind his glasses at Dave, "And who's the new kid?"

"It' fine dude." He turned towards sol's voice. "names Dave strider." he nodded to him as Cal barked, sniffing Sollux.

"Oh my god what the fuck is touching m-oh." Sollux looked down at Cal, "wow, okay a dog. Great. Nice to meet you 'Strider'." Karkat rolled his eyes next to Sollux. "Dude, just look out from under your glasses. John already knows and so do I and Dave can't see-no offense-so you don't have to keep wearing those glasses. They're going to totally fuck up your vision."

Sollux glared at him, "I'll do what the fuck I want KK. You don't see me telling you to get drunk on your rage-preventing medicationth all the time."

Cal barked at the both of them, nipping at them as if to break up a fight. Dave chuckled. "don't start fighting or you will get a face full of dog."

"ugh, dog slobber," Sollux said and warily eyed Cal. "Anyway, yeah, welcome to club Thkia or whatever. Here'th your medal of 'you're thtill at a thupid thcool' and thit and enjoy your remaining thtay." John chuckled, "always the cheery one, Sollux."

"hey i like this kid" chuckled Dave, reaching out and holding out a hand. "You're cool in my books."

Sollux raised an eyebrow and extended his hand to shake Dave's. "my pleathure, I gueth, You might not be too bad either." Karkat shrugged and raised his eyebrows, "yeah, seriously though, it could be OK to have a new addition to our group of three. I mean, party games just aren't a fuck of a lot fun without four people. Like the two against one thing sucks dick."

"You'd know wouldn't you KK," Sollux smirks and elbows the other kid in the the ribs.

"Party games?" Dave raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, like Wii and Playstation and Xbox games and stuf-oh. SHIT. I MEAN SHIT. UH. Like I mean there's karaoke too and board games and D&D and stuff too." John glared at Karkat with the best death-glare he could muster, "smooth. No, but D&D would be a lot of fun."

He sighed at Karkat's correction. "Thanks dude, both of ya, but i can play normal games. I play with bro. Not great on new games, but classics i can." He rubbed Cal's head.

Karkat actually looked almost apologetic, "sorry, but yeah man we don't have a lot of new games anyway. And Sollux just plays 8-bit games all day so, yeah. But there's still a lot of games." John stepped closer to Dave, "Yeah, and it'd be really nice to have you there."

"cool" he stated as Jake blew the whistle,announcing it was time to change out. "oh lets go guys"

John walked with Dave back to the locker room, stopping at Dave's locker. "Alright, be right back." John changed out of his gym clothes and pulled his normal clothes back on, trying to get his hair to get into a better do. It always looked really crazy for some reason. "Alright, done Dave?"

"Yeah." He called back, slipping on his shades again and gathering his stuff.

John walked next Dave, "alright, last class is coming up. I think we have different classes though. What was your class again?"

"I'll still walk you and pick you up and stuff and well, maybe I can even spend a class with you on the first day!"

Dave nodded and pulled out his schedule. "I have History this period." He made a face. "studying dead idiots, so much fun"

John furrowed his brows, " hmm, I think that's with 'Sir' Kankri. He's uh, related to Karkat somehow. So...yeah. But he's...fun."

"I think that's close to here though, onwards!" they walked out of the locker rooms.

"sir?" Asked Dave, bemused. "who the hell goes by that anymore unless you live in England?"

John smirked, "Well, sir Kankri is pretty special. He talks A LOT. And he's, well, you'll see."

"Bye Jake!" John waved goodbye to his cousin as he and Dave walked out. Dave waved as well and followed him out, humming a rap under his breath. Cal was dancing around his feet, trying to trip them up.

"Oh, so you DO like to sing." John nudged him, "I knew it! It's just the kind of thing a coolkid like you would like." John looked at Dave brightly, and then down at Cal. "Gosh, you're in a good mood, Cal." Cal barked, wagging his tail and bumping him, a doggy grin on his face. "Hell no, i can't sing worth shit."

John smiled again, "nah dude I bet you can sing really well. I can hear your humming you know." John's prankster (happy) gambit rose a bit, "come on, you have to sing to me sometime. Maybe during lunch or something. I'll listen I promise."

John laughed at Cal and pet his back fur lightly, "Cal, gosh you're so silly, pft."

"uhh..." Dave's face warmed up. "I don't think that's a good idea dude. I rap, not sing."

"OH! Then I'd love to hear you rap too, man! I mean, aha, I would accompany on a piano but that's not really in rap. I bet you rule though. I mean you seem to just be plain awesome at a lot of stuff!" John wondered if maybe he was being TOO enthusiastic. Rose had once told him that his tendency to become super excited overwhelmed some people.

"yo calm yourself man, don't want you bouncing off into space." teased Dave playfully. "but sure, I'll perform for ya next week though once Bro and I are settled."

"Mn. Okay, that's cool." John smiled and then looked at the room numbers on the doors, "Okay, this is it." He stopped them in front of room 169 and then walked them in.

Standing in front of the class was Kankri, currently "lecturing" about proper note taking and classroom behavior

"uh oh," John whispered to Dave as they walked in, "looks like he's in the middle of one of his famous rants."

"Umm one of his what?" questioned Dave, coming to a halt as he heard the word vomit coming from whoever the teacher was, mouth.

"Words, words, words." John sighed, "I've heard it's pretty bad. I have a different History teacher but I've heard a LOT about Kankri. He's a good teacher. He just talks about a lot of stuff. He's actually some kind of genius."

"really?" he sounded skeptical, even to himself. "Just sounds like a lot of hot a..." "Mr. Egbert!"

John chuckled under his breath at Dave and then looked up at Kankri, "hello sir Kankri." John smiled, "this is your uh, new student, Dave. I'm guessing you were informed of his arrival?" John was always worried that he wasn't speaking adequately enough around Kankri. Gosh.

"Yes I was indeed Mr. Egbert. Thank you for escorting him to my class. It would be most triggering if he were unable to arrive safely. We all must be aware of others inability and need and help them in the least triggering was so we do not cause conflict with those who need help. I trust no triggering occurred while leading Mr. Strider to my informative and important room of learning?"

Dave gripped John's arm tighter, his head spinning. Who knew someone could talk so much?!

"Nope! Nothing, uh, triggering to report, sir! Just a safe, un-triggering walk down the hallway, safely, and efficiently." John laughed quietly and nudged Dave, "So, uh, could I by any chance just stay here or do I HAVE to go to band class because I think one day without going would be okay probably?"

Kankri looked at John in shock. "Why Mr. Egbert, why would you suggest something so triggering as skipping? Do you wish to trigger your band director who will most certainly be triggered by your lack of attendance and therefore trigger many other people in this school? all because you do not wish to go to band practice? as flattering as it is for you to wish to stay in my room or learning and lecture, you mustn't trigger your director and by extension, trigger me!"

John pouted slightly, "aw, but." John looked over at Dave, "will you be okay, I mean, yeah you will be but." John frowned, "Okay, well I best not trigger the band teacher by being late." John squeezed Dave's hand a last time with a soft, "see ya in a bit" and then he walked out of the room with a, "until later sir and Dave!"

Dave cleared his throat. "Sir? where should I sit?" by this point Kankri was already lecturing the class again and didn't hear Dave. 'Well fuck' the thought sourly. Clearly this teacher was like the others. He didn't care that he was fuckin blind.

A girl with black hair and red glasses was sitting in the front of the room. She had heard the conversation and tilted her head curiously before taking her walking stick and getting up, "hey, kid," he said in a rough-ish voice. She touched around her with the stick until she hit him lightly on his leg, "there's a seat next to mine, you can sit there."

Dave turned to her voice. "hey thanks uh..."

She stood there until she heard Dave start to move, then she grinned, showing off some teeth, "I'm Terezi. Nice to meet you kid. I know I'm blind but don't stare. Heheh."

"Anyways, our teacher is kind of busy and it sounded like your body guard left so how about I just be your watcher for this class."

"sorry, can't exactly see your face" Cal nudged her. "Call me a blind buddy." He followed her up to the empty seat, "sure."

Terezi jumped a bit as Cal brushed past her, confused for a second, then she smiled, "oh, well it looks like there's also a third buddy." She smiled at where she felt Cal last and then sat down in her seat.

"And great! We need to stick together I guess then."

"copy off eachother's braille homework and what not." She cackled. Dave cracked a grin "Hell yeah. and maybe get egdeerp to learn braille. It would make screwing teachers over so much more fun." Terezi cackle-chucked again and then poured some well-used crayons from her bag all onto the desk and reached around smelling each of them until she found the color she was looking for. "Egderp? You mean the guy with the high-ish voice who was just in here. Aka your bondbrother/mate?" She started drawing on a piece of paper, "do you like to draw?"

"yeah him." dave felt around until he found a crayon and some paper. "hell yeah, just cause i'm blind don't mean i can't draw."

"Exactly! In fact, I bet we're both fricking awesome at this, I mean, I could be drawing Vincent Vango art right now and I wouldn't even know it!"

"Let's just say that we're actually drawing the best art right now and take it as fact."

"And don't worry about what Siiiiir Kankri is saying right now, he gives a really detailed video about it online. Which, idk, is almost worse if that's possible."

"fuck yeah. No matter what they say"

Terezi wrinkled her nose and laughed again-she laughed a lot-and continued to draw. She made some jokes about their class, talked about jokes and comics. 30 minutes went by with almost no regard to the actual history class. "Well," she said and stopped drawing for a second, "I suppose it's nice to have someone who has the same kind of thin I have. It's kind of hard just going around without someone who really understands."

He hummed in agreement as he continued to draw. "totally. Bro is the only other one who understands. and maybe John. and of course you do."

"So your brother's blind too? Or do you guys just share some kind of bond-if ya don't mind me asking." Terezi sniffed a crayon again and then leaned over to Dave. "Woah, DUDE, you smell like this crayon."

"That's so weird," She grinned again.

"no my bro's not blind but he's always been around and helping." At her scent comment he quirked an eyebrow. "What does it smell like? cause all i smell is wax, dye and the paper."

She sniffed the crayon again, "it smells like cherry red dude. At least, that's what Latula told me this color is, aha. Yeah, nah dude, it totally smells like you, you can't smell it?"

"And wow that sounds really awesome to have such a close guardian. Your brother sounds really nice."

"nah, my sense of smell isn't great. now my sense of hearing or touch? fuckin super hero." a small smile appeared. "and yeah he is th..." " ! !"

Terezi smiled widely and was about to make a comment on how good hearing and touch senses could be *useful* when they were interrupted by Kankri. Terezi frowned slightly, her sharp teeth biting into her lip. Kankri marched up to their desks, his footsteps telling where he was. "You two are being very triggering. I am trying to teach this class and you the wonders and importance of these perfect places yet you decided to trigger me by talking and not paying attention. Furthermore, you may have triggered others in this class with your raucous laughter and disrespectful joking. you two should have tagged your triggers by raising your hand instead of talking and ignoring my lecture because you were triggered by my lecture. to shame to the both of you. I am sorry if i trigger you for i try not to ever trigger anyone, but you must right your triggers as punishment and turn them in before the end of class."

Terezi raised an eyebrow, "we're both blind. We can't very well just pull out a piece of paper and write on it because we can't see what you're drawing on the board or even if there's any kind of presentation going on. In fact, you keep referring to the map on the screen and I have absolutely no clue what you're speaking of. It's VERY triggering to me and I'm using smiles to cover up how *insanely* dead I am inside. Also, we weren't even disturbing anyone because there are literally 6 kids in this class and we're on the side of the room whispering to each other beacause that's the only way we can understand really anything, sir Kankri, sir.."

Terezi rolled her eyes behind her red glasses, this happened surprisingly often. Dave sat there, impressed as kankri sputtered for a moment before walking off and leaving them alone the rest of the class.

"damn Tz, you owned the teach"

"Some of the teachers forget sometimes. I have like 5 similar monologes prepared for whenever someone does. But hell yeah I did," She smiled at him and about a minute later the bell rung.

John's class was about 10 doors away and he practically skidded down the hallway as he ran to the history room, "oh my godsh, sorry I'm late! Dave?" John walked up to Dave, "How'd it go?"

Dave couldn't help a small smile. "Fine once i drowned out the eternal windbag. Tz here made the class fun." He highfived her as he gathered his things and moved over to john.

Terezi smirked at the highfive (which was hard to achieve but somehow worked), "Yeah, coolkid here isn't too shabby on the entertainment value either!." Then Karkat walked into the room, "Oh my god it's you two dorks again." Terezi grinned, "Oh, you're coming to pick me up, aren't you?" She picked up her walking stick and supplies, "later coolkid and eggdorp." Then she waved in their general direction and walked out with Karkat.

John smiled at Dave, "see, I KNEW you guys would hit it off!"

He nodded. "yeah, she's awesome." he grabbed Johns arm and whistled to cal. "so egderp, where to for car riders?"

"Right this way," John laughed and led Dave through the mob of leaving students. There was a round circle drive where parents picked up their kids and John walked Dave out the door. "So, how are we going to find your Bro's car?" John scanned the waiting cars.

"look for a crazy loud, bright orange sports car" he replied, listening for his bro's music. John nodded and looked around the circle of cars. Most of them were white, red, or blue. Orange? Wow, that definitely something. Suddenly a car with it's windows down and music blaring pulled up, a man with bright blond hair and hat looked out the window. It was an orange car. "Dude, wait, I think that's your bro's car, wow."

"yeah i can hear it." Dave replied, turning and waving in the general direction. Dirk stuck his head out the window and waved back, pulling up in front of them. Once he had, he parked the car and got out. "Yo little man. Who's the kid?"

John's jaw basically dropped. Wow. How could two people be so awesome? John nervously stammered a "h-hey, uh, dave?" as he nervously looked at Dave. He wasn't use to this kind of talking. Especially not to cool dudes with sports cars and nice hair.

"Yeah man?" he replied, turning towards him. Dirk stood there silently, watching with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't seen Dave so relaxed around anyone before.

John leaned in close and whispered, "I'm not good at talking with people's guardians, Uh, what if I'm not cool?" John bit his lip and nervously looked at Dirk again.

Dave chuckled slightly. "Dude, relax. Bro," he turned towards Dirk, "This is my new pal, John. I roped him into being Cal for the day." Dirk nodded. "cool, nice to meet you."

John waved back, smiling just enough so that his large-ish teeth didn't really show, "hi, uh, Dave's brother. and-"

"Call me bro" Dirk interrupted.

"Uh, yes sir...bro" John said awkwardly, grinning a bit. John looked at Dave, and laughed a bit, "and I definitely didn't replace Cal. Cal was awesome. Though I don't mind helping you with Cal, Dave."

"cool dude" Dave smirked, stroking Cal's head. "Can't let this poor, helpless, blind new student get lost in this jungle called a school" Dirk smirked. "Dave, you're anything but helpless."

"I agree double to that," John winked goofily, and patted Dave on the shoulder lightly. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" John asked hopefully, eyes wide and blue behind his glasses.

Dave nodded "sure thing dude." Dirk

cleared his throat, smirking. "lil man, you have to let go first."

John blinked happily and giggled (manly, yup, so manly) and then felt a slight loss of warmth when Dave let go of his arm, "don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow. I hope you don't miss me *too* much, hehe."

Dave smirked as he shifted slightly away to grab hold of dirk. "hell i'll miss you. I'll miss you so much that i will find your house and break in just so i can stay with you, then kidnap you and disappear so we will never be seperated."

John felt like he should be surprised but he wasn't, "And I'll be waiting by the window just to watch you come in all James Bond like and save me from boredom, Dave. I'll have my bags packed and shoes on."

"we'll run off into the moonlight on worn-out tennis shoes."

"Hell yeah, I'll be your blind knight in shining clothes and my trusty dog." Dirk stood there and listened to the two banter back and forth for a bit before interrupting again. "lil man, gotta okay." He turned to John. "Thanks man."

John had opened his mouth to retort again about being some bespectacled princess before Dirk jumped in and John shot his mouth slyly, "oops, yeah, have fun you guys!"

Dirk helped Dave into the car, who called back "yeah, See ya dude!"

"Bye! I'm waving at you!" John waved his hand at the car and watched as it slowly started to roll away, "See ya Dave!" John felt kind of sad that Dave was leaving. It was almost surprising how close he already felt to Dave.

"hear ya later dude!" Dave called back as Dirk drove off. Once John was out of sight, Dave found himself sighing. He kinda missed Johns voice, which was strange.

John looked watched the car until it was out of view and then started to walk home. The sun was kind of warm and there was some kind of soft, warmish wind in the air now. It was a 7 minute walk home and John sighed, it had been a pretty long day. The walk home was shorter than usual for some reason; probably because he had something to puzzle through now. His white-painted house came into view, his dad's car already parked in the driveway.

_As bro drove, Dave leaned back and listened to his music, absently petting Cal. for once Cal was quiet the entire 20 min drive home, which was amazing. Sadly this let his thoughts wander. No matter how he tried, he just couldn't get John out of his head._

John checked the mailbox at the start of his driveway and pulled some envelopes out. All of them were addressed to his father and he tucked them under his arm and then walked through the unlocked door. Almost immediately he was greeted by the warm, sickeningly sweet smell of cakes and frosting powder. "Oh my god." John muttered silently and ran up the stair, closing his door and shoving his drawer in front of it to make sure his dad wouldn't come in offering sweets. "Welcome home son!" He heard distantly from downstairs. He ran his fingers through his hair and then walked over to his computer, signing onto Pesterchum. "I wonder if Dave has a Chumhandle..." John blinked at the yellow app. Rose, Jade, Karkat, Vriska, Terezi, and Feferi were already logged on. John raised an eyebrow as Terezi's chumhandle went on as soon as his did. GC:H3Y JOH HOW AR3 YOU

GC: 1 W4S WOND3R1NG 1F YOU H4D D4V3S CHUMH4NDL3

EB: EB:nope! i'm afraid not, sorry!

John squinted at the text and rubbed his eyes, crap, he was so tired. He said goodbye to Terezi and signed off, heading to the bathrooom for a quick shower.

_Dave climbed out of Dirk's car and grabbed Cal's harness, heading to the stairs that led to the apartment. Dirk flashed behind him and picked both him and cal up, flashing up the stairs. "bro..." Dave whined softly as he was put down, miffed that he was carried. Dirk just chuckled and opened the apartment door. Dave went inside and headed straight to his room, activating his computer and logging into pesterchum. His computer read the names aloud to him. Tavros, Nepeta, Equius and Gamzee. none of them were on so he decided to get to mixing up some new sick beats. As he got ready, he made a mental note to check if John had a chum tomorrow_.

John turned on the water and the warm humidity rose above him, "ah, shit!" John seethed as he got used to the water. Crap, that sparks. John blinked as everything fuzzed due to his glasses being off. Terezi wasn't the only one who wanted Dave's Chumhandle. John glared, gosh he was wondering why he suddenly felt kind of...jealous of Terezi. John rested his head against the marble wall, "stupid." John said to himself, squinting.

_Grabbing his headset, Dave contemplated what he should do. After about 20 min, he began, the mix and ideas flowing out._

John finished his shower and reached for a towel, tying it around himself as he walked back to his room. He flopped down onto the bed and stared at the wall for a second before he got up and put on his pajamas (a t-shirt and ghost buster boxers, naturally.) He wondered what Dave was doing, just because Dave was just interesting. John closed his eyes. And after a few minutes of restless thoughts; fell asleep.

_Dave mixed and made his beats for the next four hours. he had so much inspiration and was so into it that he didn't hear Dirk come in. in fact, he didn't even notice until Dirk removed his headphones. "Lil man, you gotta go to sleep" dave snorted in irritation. "Hell no bro, i got some great inspiration!" Dirk tutted. "bed dave, or i'll knock you out" he groaned. "okay okay" dave muttered, changing and getting in bed. he heard dirk leave and for the next hour, lay there thinking before finally falling asleep._


End file.
